Ladhill Gill and Bumper Castle from Fangdale Beck

7.5 miles                           Squally showers

We turned off the B1257 Bilsdale Road at the Fangdale sign and drove past a green telephone kiosk just past the junction. This unusual green telephone box was installed in the 1930s and was green at the request of Lord Feversham, who wanted it to blend in with its surroundings. In 1992 a battle was fought over this when British Telecom, without any consultation, removed it and installed one of the new 'shower cubicle' type boxes, not realising they had removed a Grade II listed building.  To the delight of the locals they were fined £3000 and ordered to restore the original.

Clean inside and with a working telephone

Tom Scott Burns tells us that Fangdale comes from the personal Scandinavian name Fangi or Fangulf, giving 'Fangi's Valley'. 

We drove into the village and parked at the side of the road opposite the old school house, once the village hall.

Today's walk from The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills

Fangdale Village Hall

The Old Post Office

Fangdale

Some years ago we talked to a resident who explained that the old schoolhouse/village hall had been left to the residents of Fangdale.  This vague bequest meant no individual resident has the right to do anything with the hall and it is just slowly deteriorating.

Leaving the car we crossed the beck by the little bridge and walked past the old Wesleyan Chapel, now converted into a private house.

We followed the tarmac lane around to a farm with a wooden sign above the door inscribed Malkin Bower Farm (Matilda's or Maude's dwelling), and continued straight past the farm with the tarmac soon becoming a grassy track.

Leaving Fangdale

Mole traps, the one on the left has 'sprung'

Overwintering at Malkin's Bower

It looks warm and dry down there

Malkin's Bower

Walking along Bilsdale

We followed the path along the valley of Bilsdale, parallel to the road below us.  The path drops down to the River Seph and it became wetter and muddier before climbing gently up to Helm House.  

Looking across Bilsdale to the Sun Inn

New gates have yellow tops to their handles indicating waymarks

Helm House Farm

Leaving Helm House we crossed sheep fields before arriving at Benhill Bank Plantation where the track climbs steadily past the trees to reach the moor gate.

Blue St Aelred's Trail sign

Benhill Plantation ahead

In Benhill Plantation

Clive demonstartes how the game feeders work

When a bird pecks the black tube at the bottom it releases a few grains

Much of today's walk follows the new St Aelred's Trail, a 41 mile pilgrimage route linking the churches of upper Ryedale and Helmsley with Rievaulx Abbey, and the blue trail signs are visible on many gateposts.

At the top of the bank we turned right onto a tarmac road which leads to Wethercote Farm, which we turned left to leave after a couple of hundred yards.  We now walked across meadow fields, the path completely undetectable apart from the occasional waymark. 

We turn into the farm lane

.. but leave the tarmac after a hundred yards or so

Steady climb through fields, Easterside Hill to our left

The last gate took us to the moor edge where the path becomes more distinct, leading from the moor gate.  Looking down to our right we saw the ruins of Bumper Castle behind a grove of trees.  TSB tells us that the castle was once part of the estate of the Duke of Buckingham and also that the monks of Rievaulx once wrought iron on Bumper Moor.  We crossed the heather to join an old cart track that leads to the ruin.

Through the moor gate

Indistrinct track follows the embankment

... to another gate

Bumper Castle ruins 

The ruins are fire damaged and there is little of interest to see

There appears to be fire damage and the building is in an unsafe condition.  We looked around and headed back to our track.  The building has an interesting history and I have previously made an internet search, which found this:

For a farm house Bumper Castle was well built with a slate roof which would have to have been imported into the dale. There's a date on the gable of 1722. It is said that in the 18c the 3rd Duke of Rutland and the Marquis of Granby stayed here for the shooting. So the house may have been built as a shooting lodge. 
From the Hawnby parish register in 1794 William Douglas, Bumper Castle, batchelor, 74, was buried "when there was the greatest depth of snow ever known in memory". In 1801 Samuel Tiplady was christened, son of Samuel (gamekeeper) and Dillery Tiplady, Bumper Castle. In 1811 William Mansell, gamekeeper to the Duke of Rutland, died at Bumper Castle aged 38.

From the mid 19c it seems to have been used as a farm. According to the 1851 census Richard Hilbert was farming 127 acres here. In 1881 and 91 Thomas Wrathall was resident. In 1920 Mrs. Clark, widow of Noah Clark was paying £25 rent.

Clive and I have seen a brass memorial plaque to William Mansell set into the floor of Hawnby Church (see last week's blog) and it would appear that he was staying at Bumper Castle at the time of his death.  It would be interesting to know exactly what befell him.

TSB reports in The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills that Bumper Castle was owned by George Villiers, the notorious second Duke of Buckingham, who, when he died in 1687, had squandered £50,000 a year and had become an outcast from society.  There is no record of him actually visiting the building however.

We set off along a muddy track to rejoin our original path, which we followed down to Ladhill Gill Beck. 

Leaving Bumper Castle

Sportsmans Hall appears on the other side of the dale

Sportsmans Hall

Heading down towards Ladhill Gill

Through the gate

Follow the beck to the bridge

.. where a large stone makes a coffee table

A sheltered spot for coffee and scones

Refreshed, we crossed the bridge and climbed steeply up the opposite side of the valley, turning left to join a track that led us above Sportsmans Hall.  TSB suggests that this name probably has something to do with Bumper Castle and the Duke's sporting pastimes.

Ladhill Gill

A steep climb

Sportsmans Hall roof below us

We walked towards the Hawnby road and turned right along Sunley Slack, a vehicle access track at the moor gate.   The track divides twice and on each occasion we took the right fork, heading towards the new Bilsdale mast.

Sunley Slack

Keep turning right

More bad weather coming

The new Bilsdale transmitter mast

We gradually descended past some old workings to reach Weatherhouse Beck and here we left the sandy track and headed off on a faint track through the heather, initially following a line of shooting butts. We lost sight of the track occasionally but it didn't matter, we knew we had to head east to cross the upper reaches of Ladhill Gill where it joins with Wetherhouse Beck and we followed a line of very basic shooting shelters.

Shown on OS map as Workings

Wetherhouse Beck merges with Ladhill Beck at this point

Leave the sandy track at the beck

.. and follow a line of shooting butts across the moor

Sometimes the going is rough

Stoat trap

This part of the walk is a bit hit and miss, the moor track being either non-existent or overgrown and very boggy.  We turned right at the wall and walked on, steadily climbing to reach another sandy shooters track.

Turn right when the sandy track is reached

Turn off the track at another row of shooting butts, which is followed downhill

We followed the sandy path, eventually reaching a line of poles descending on our left marking shooting butts which we followed  down towards the trees of Helm House Wood.  This is the dotted line going east off Shaw Side on the map above.

Descending to Helm House Wood

We went through the moor gate and walked by some old quarries and then descended via the usual hollow ways to emerge at Malkin Bower where we turned left to return to Fangdale.

Old quarry workings

Fangdale appears below

Malkin Bower

Back in Fangdale

This is a good walk but needs a close eye on the OS map.

It doesn't have to be fun to be fun.